This invention relates generally to machines for feeding, scoring and breaking relatively small diameter glass tubing, and deals more particularly with an improvement to the machine disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,268 entitled "Machine For Feeding, Scoring and Breaking Small Diameter Glass Tubing" issued Feb. 27, 1973. The machine described in said patent includes a horizontal bed for receiving the length of tubing in side-by-side relationship, and an anvil is provided at the downstream end of the bed, with a carriage being adapted to traverse the bed above the anvil to pass a scoring wheel and break off shoe across the tubes. The said patent also discloses control circuitry for providing for an automatic mode of operation for the carriage and discloses means for feeding the tubes between each pass of the carriage.
This invention relates to an improvement to the above described machine wherein the feeding means is replaced by means for inclining the bed so that gravity can be taken advantage of to feed the tubes downwardly against a measuring bar or stop. This disclosure further includes improved means for handling the severed tube segments, and also improved means for achieving the traversing movement of the carriage, and other features to be described hereinbelow.